Mental Health Advocates Oppose Rep. Tim Murphy’s Bill for Promoting Forced “Treatment” over More Effective and Less Expensive Voluntary Care

The new bill would also dismantle SAMHSA, the federal mental health authority.

Sharing a bulletin from the National Mental Health Consumer Self-Help Clearing House about the 

Peer Specialist Job Training, Job Satisfaction, and Role Clarity Survey

What is the purpose of the research study? The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of job training and role clarity on job satisfaction among peer specialists.

What will I have to do? Participants will be required to complete a 3 part, 70-item online survey.

How long will it take? The online survey should take about 10 minutes to complete.

How will I benefit from participating in this study? Participants will receive no direct benefit from participation in this research study; however, at the completion of the survey, participants will have the option to be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift card.

Who is eligible to participate in this study? Anyone who is 18 years old or older and is currently working or has worked as a peer specialist.

Location: Online via Qualtrics, Peer Specialist Job Training, Job Satisfaction, and Role Clarity Survey. Links to each survey will be in the iNAPS monthly newsletter and on the iNAPS website http://inaops.org/

Deadline: If you would like to participate in the survey, please submit your response by August 31, 2015.

How can I obtain more information about this study? To obtain additional information or if you have questions about this study, eIRB#22323, please contact either:

Sarah Jenkins, Principal Investigator at 727-550-6446 or sarahjenkins@mail.usf.edu

Dr. Tiffany Chenneville, at 727-644-5911 or chennevi@mail.usf.edu

Editorial

We are now more or less three years into North Carolina’s waiver evolution.  We must ask how our MCOs are doing with regard to serving citizens with the quality that reflects genuine respect for their well-being.  All too often, the discussion turns to service providers, yet the real question should effectively disclose the organizational culture of our public Managed Care Organizations.
With public dollars, Medicaid requires (and shall I say, so do many taxpaying citizens?) that they develop systems that ensure that people get the most appropriate services according to their need and to ensure that people experience improving health (and indeed, recovery in the case of most being served) with decreasing crises in their lives.   This effort goes way beyond developing new utilization management tools and tighter billing systems.  In fact, even if one were to look at an MCO as a corporate business model alone (and too many in our system do), it would not be effective nor certainly sustainable because the value of the customer’s experience is not part of the equation.
Value means that the dollar (the public dollar) is purchasing significant benefit for people needing the system.  Value should become our focus when considering the quality of our systems or our services.  Value should be the bottom line at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Governor’s office.  It should be the plain language used by legislators, especially those tasked with oversight of system funding and progress.
Value has not been the driver of the corporate or board cultures in most of our managed care organizations.  Growth has been.  Numbers and dollars.  And this is hurting us.  I so much wish that legislators and DHHS staff understood the very truth of this matter.
There isn’t space to explore examples from several MCOs (governance and leadership levels) that typify our concern about the lack of interest in the experience of the intended beneficiary and the outcomes of how he is served. But there are several very concerning circumstances!
Finally, here is another indicator of a troubling disregard for quality:  On June 5, Benchmarks, a training and development provider to the mental health system, had scheduled a very important presentation.  Called Building Resilience and Accountability:  Improving Individual, Family and Community Health Outcomes, I’d felt this was so well timed for North Carolina.  It is presented by a very knowledgeable and caring speaker in the field from out of state whom I have known for some time.  I had hopes that there would be many MCO staff hearing his message as well as Division staff and providers.  We need this discussion and we need it now!  Yet because of too little interest by constituents, Benchmark, has had to cancel the event.

So what does all this mean?  We have inadequate leadership in MCOs where communities will suffer as a result.  We have one organization letting go of one of the best leaders in our state because of a difference in values.  And we have too little interest by MCOs in evaluating their true values, organizational culture, and the outcomes necessary to ensure that they are offering a high-value system.
It all means it is a very sad day for North Carolinians who must depend on these MCOs.  And because many of these issues have been known to DHHS and some legislators, it may mean that no one with authority really cares.  Please, we deserve leaders with the right values shaping productive and humane cultures of management and service provision. We need all who can to step up to make a difference!

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One other person’s word on this issue:  The following sentence was written to me by a very caring clinician in our system:

Recently, peers in regions of North Carolina have contacted NC CANSO for information and support about operating a peer-operated support center.  As a result, the Board of Directors of NC CANSO has determined it is time to offer such support–technical assistance, information sharing, and fellowship–to peer groups in other communities wishing to establish a low-cost center.

In July, the GreenTree Peer Center in Winston-Salem will be celebrating its third anniversary! What we have learned is that a peer center is indispensible in a community.  It becomes, in effect, a true safety net in a system where necessary support is not offered through conventional services.  In fact, our referrals come from provider agencies, from local and state hospitals, from mental health court, and from homeless transition programs.  THESE agencies value the role of social connection in supporting changes successfully.
We have learned that a peer center becomes a place where:

• Strong, trusting relationships are formed
• People feel safe to share about their experiences in a “judgement free zone.
• The reality of trauma and its impact on people’s lives are respected and doors can be opened to trauma-informed care
• People face decreasing levels of crisis circumstances.  Hospitalizations are greatly reduced.
• People realize that self-care is holistic and calls for healthier living
• People start envisioning a different future for themselves

Currently, there is no funding stream for peer centers, but NC CANSO is certainly advocating for this at the state level, besides learning about what may be possible at the community level.  Because these centers are indeed so beneficial!  Besides their role in reducing hospitalization, we need them to aid persons transitioning from institutional living to life in the community.
Social isolation is one of the biggest threats to the likelihood of recovery. Research addresses the role of social connection in mental health.  Yet where else is it offered in our communities?  Peer centers prevent this isolation–so dangerous to any of us! And they offer the mutual support and self-help so welcomed by people who want to step forward into a lifeless defined by illness and more defined by the individuals that they themselves are! Isn’t this what we all want?

There is strength in our working together and we can accomplish more for promoting recovery in our state if we step out, take risks (rather, BE INNOVATIVE), and get going with this!  Further, our joint efforts will enrich the level of recovery advocacy already starting to grow in North Carolina!
If you have a group of peers who would like to help establish one in your community, contact us so we can start the brainstorming!  Or if you have begun a center governed and operated by peers and want to work together to strengthen the progress state-wide, please join us!  Just email Laurie Coker at lcokernc@gmail.com or call 336-577-3743.